This invention relates to a method for recovering a fluid from a filter. In another aspect, the invention relates to an apparatus for such recovery.
In various chemical processes, filters are sometimes employed at some point or points in the process which act to separate out certain unwanted materials in a mixture. Many times, however a fluid having significant value is trapped in the filter. This fluid might be a valuable process solvent, product intermediate, product, unconverted feed or the like. In addition, this fluid retained in the filter could create environmental problems in the disposal of the filter cake. One example of a process as mentioned above is sulfolane production, wherein a crude mixture including sulfolane is passed through a filter to filter out unwanted by-products, process catalysts, etc. However, in addition to unwanted materials, the filter may also trap some of the sulfolane therein. Sulfolane has significant economic value such that it would be desirable to recover trapped sulfolane from the filter.